A Welsh company has developed a machine which converts mixed plastics waste into bullet and fireproof armored panels. Protomax Plastics, has developed a new technology 'P2' to manufacture strong plastic panels including armoured, bullet proof and fire proof doors from virtually any mix of waste material including discarded plastic bags, old milk cartons, discarded drinks bottles, metal components and old clothes to build everything from surfboards and kayaks to lightweight Kevlar protected panels. Protomax has been backed by the Welsh Assembly Government with an investment grant towards the design, development and manufacture of the new P2 powder press which is currently being patented. The process is called powder impression molding (PIM). It involves fusing powdered thermoplastic resins with reinforcing materials at relatively low temperatures, which produces a lightweight composite that is as strong as steel. The process holds out hope that companies may be able to eliminate landfill and reduce their carbon footprint by recycling their waste on-site. The outer skin of the panels is made from recycled plastic such as recycled drinks bottles or milk cartons while the core material in the centre can be manufactured from a range of different waste materials. The core material is made by reprocessing waste and mixing it with a foaming agent which fuses the materials together and creates a cellular foam structure. Further strengthening of the panels can be done by adding Kevlar or Glass Fibre. P2 technology from Protomax, along with being environment friendly, has wide applications. Though panels manufactured using P2 are light and easy to handle, they have excellent tensile strength and weight carrying capacity. The panels, which can be provided in a range of colours and sizes, can also be used to replace plywood hoardings around building sites, used for pallets, partition walls, desk pods, contoured for shed roofing or used as partition walls.

Polymer Energy ® offers a viable, economical and environmentally responsible alternative to current methods of recycling and disposal of plastic waste. The system uses catalytic pyrolysis to efficiently convert plastics (primarily polyolefins) into crude oil. It is modular in design- and one single module can produce up to 775 litres of crude oil for every ton of typical plastic waste processed. System capacity can range from 200-400 tons of plastic wastes processed per month. Overall plant capacity can be easily scaled up by adding additional modules. The system is robust by design, and can easily handle plastic that is contaminated with other kinds of waste such as metals, glass, dirt, water, etc. The system can tolerate up to 25% of other waste in the input plastic waste stream. As a result, a key advantage of this process is that the plastic wastes do not need to be pre-sorted, cleaned or dried prior to processing, which in turn significantly reduces the overall cost of operation.The output crude oil is high-grade and can be further processed in a refinery or used to power low-rpm machines such as electric generation turbines.

Oregon based   Agri-Plas has managed to successfully convert discarded agricultural plastic into crude oil. The company has delivered its first full tanker (8,200 gallons) of oil to a Washington state refinery for further processing. The technology allows the continuous reuse of petroleum-based products over and over again. The company estimates that United States could realise a 20% reduction in crude oil demand if all domestic agricultural plastics were recycled with this process. The company collects unwanted plastic that "chokes landfills or is abandoned, burned or buried" and converts it back into synthetic crude oil. Plastic products reportedly include dirty agricultural film, greenhouse covers, mixed nursery material, prepackaged food containers and lids, as well as other low- or zero-value plastics. The company currently operates one plastic-to-oil conversion unit. However, future plans envision the construction of five, four-unit Plas2Fuel reclamation systems capable of producing a tanker full of crude oil per day. The synthetic crude oil that Agri-Plas has reclaimed from unwanted plastic can be refined for a variety of uses, including makeup, gasoline, diesel, lubricants and other petroleum-based products.